Director of SQA Engineering

Are you a leader who thrives in a dynamic, fast-paced environment, delivering robust hardware-enabled software? Do you want to help scale our Express install base and drive Evolv’s growth into a multi-product business?

As SQA Engineering Director at Evolv, you will add System to the meaning of the “S” in SQA, serving as a key functional leader delivering critical security screening software, running on real time hardware that meets and exceeds our customer expectations. You will chart the course and collaborate with the Engineering team to accelerate the delivery of roadmap releases and improvements to the quality process to boost the reliability of Evolv Products to “four 9s” within 2-3 years. You will lead the critical SQA function, working with a team of highly skilled software quality and automation engineers, driving quality improvements, improving test efficiency across hardware variants, balancing manual and automated testing, and measuring and increasing test coverage. In parallel, you will identify bottlenecks and add new or improved processes where they are needed, leveraging automation and continuous integration (CI/CD), to remove friction and streamline the delivery of high-quality Evolv software and systems into manufacturing and the field. You will also work cross-functionally with Product Quality to help close the loop when errors/failures are found in the field, feeding lessons learned back into Engineering.

In the first 30 days, you will:

• Learn how Express product works from top to bottom
• Become an integral hands-on leader of the SQA team
• Learn existing SQA, CI/CD, and SDLC processes – pre and post releases
• Participate in Field Activity review meetings (escalated field issues)
• Attend internal Express system training and make a customer site-visit
• Learn existing manual test suites: new feature, performance, regression
• Learn existing automated test suites: scanner smoke, detection smoke, UTs
• Understand the release cadence and documentation
• Begin to recognize gaps

• Participate in software release planning and bug scrubs with Software and Technical Product Managers.
• Participate in UAT, recreate customer scenarios & audit products from manufacturing

Within 3 months, you will

• Be recognized within Engineering as the go-to person for System and Software Quality questions
• Understand with curiosity the end-to-end data flows of Express from sensor acquisition, to the algorithm, Wi-Fi tablets, and LTE-connected Evolv Portal and Cloud Platform.
• Work with the SQA team to identify and mitigate gaps in the existing test approach and coverage
• Begin to establish metrics and quality indicators that measure the effectiveness of SQA testing
• Establish a working cadence with Product Quality and engage on-field issues
• Manage roadmap to automate manual tests over time
• Manage/promote/drive a new performance dashboard project (software performance tracker)
• Help troubleshoot field issues when appropriate

By the end of the first year, you will:

• Be recognized outside Engineering as the go-to person for System and Software Quality questions, which comes with a deep end-to-end understanding of how Evolv products work
• Formalize acceptance criteria for qualifying Host and Diagnostic software, OS images, tablet hardware, and software, as well as tools used by field service and manufacturing
• Establish data-driven KPI metrics that measure the effectiveness and coverage of SQA testing
• Ensure the performance dashboard is complete/useful/effective/maintained
• Manage multiple release efforts simultaneously

Leadership

• Demonstrate technical depth and earn the respect of the SQA team and your lateral peers
• Mentor junior SQA and automation engineers
• Hire team members as we grow and scale
• Manage a blended team of on-site, hybrid, and remote workers

Team Engagement

• Imbue the team with a sense of purpose
• Understand individual team members and how they want to develop and grow

Innovation

• Solutions and improvements will be challenging, requiring innovative and analytical thinking
• Apply innovations from your repertoire to foster continuous improvement within the SQA organization (e.g., performance dashboard)
  • By Day 60, identify foundational improvement(s) to SQA practices
  • By Day 90, propose process and infrastructure change(s) with buy-in from all stakeholders
  • Outline milestones for the program and provide monthly updates on the progress

Technical Development

• Take on a testing or infrastructure challenge in an area that you wish to grow into
• By Day 90, identify the challenge and draw up a plan with 30-day deliverables

• You will be joining an experienced team of SQA Engineers (Principal, Senior, Staff members) focusing on manual and automation qualification efforts
• This position reports to the Head of Engineering.
• Team culture is based on trust, collaboration, and ongoing development while living Evolv’s values: Driven, Authentic, Courageous, Fun, and Kind

• The location of this role is based at Evolv HQ in Waltham, MA, with an opportunity to be remote some days.

Benefits

If you want to solve one of the most difficult issues of our time and save lives doing it, you want to work at Evolv. We are passionate, knowing that what we do and how we do it can affect life or death situations for our customers. At Evolv, you will have unparalleled exposure to all aspects of our business, working with a talented team that shares our vision for a safer world. If you are inspired by invention and gain satisfaction from seeing how your work impacts the bigger picture, Evolv will be a great fit.

• Equity is an important component of every compensation package
• Flexible work environment
• Unique culture
• Medical and dental insurance
• 401(k) plan + company match
• Unlimited vacation policy
• $300 per quarter to spend on the perks that are most meaningful to you
• Tuition Reimbursement

Evolv Technology (“Evolv”) is an Equal Opportunity Employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind. We welcome and encourage diversity in the workplace, and all employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, national, social or ethnic origin, sex (including pregnancy), age, disability, HIV Status, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, veteran status, or any other status protected by law in the locations where we operate. Evolv will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics.

Evolv is committed to offering an inclusive and accessible experience for all job seekers, including individuals with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation as part of the job application process, please connect with us at [email protected].